5/31/2005

Well thanks to whomever has looked at my Blog, I have had 600 visits now, not like some peoples, who get hundreds a day, but to me 600 is good, keep it coming, and Please feel free to leave a note/comment/gripe/ or whatever... -Bluewolfess *)

Ok this is weird , Bup was coloring in his new dino coloring book yesterday and came up to me and asked what this thing was, I told him the name and said to myself it looks like a big armadillo...and then today here is this article...weird...

We are so beautifulWe are so youngInfinitely hornyWe are so dumbWe are spoiledand elegantWe are brutaland yet charmingWe are so hipWe are so coolA little biA little gayWe are so wildand so experiencedFierce andperfectly programmed

The horizon draws closerand everyone's a starWe live like the godsand then bite the dustThe shadows grow longerWe know no envyWaste your youthand give me your time

Welcome – you children of the lightYou are welcome – welcome toA very warm welcome to nothing

We are obsceneWe are so freeInfinitely sharpand completely with itWe are absurdTotally crazyFairly brokenbut nicely decoratedWe are so wildand tuned upDecadent andoptimized for purpose

The horizon draws closerand everyone's a starWe live like the Godsand then bite the dustThe shadows grow longerWe know no envyWaste your youthand give me your time

We are so chicWe are frivolousA little highA little hollowWe live fastand radicallyWhat is around usdoesn't matter to usWe need fireWe breath gasolineBubbly carstits cocaine!

Tell me what you are afraid ofTell me why you can't go on anymorewhy you thinkthat nothing works anymoreand why you quite suddenly thinkit is too late

Tell me what you are running fromfrom all the lies and all the filthYou don't know whynor where toand you suddenly ask yourselfthe pointthe point

Fear throws its shadowon the doorFear sinks its teeth inlike an ulcerYour fear has you tightlyin its handFear has castrated youSheer terror is the powerthat rules youFear that controls your soulYour fear is the sourceof your desireFear of yourself

Fear casts its shadowon the doorFear tears you uplike paperYour fear has you tightlyin its handFear has recognized youSheer terror is the motherof your problemsFear is your leaderyour despotYour fearthe evil in your sightsFear of yourself

It comes very quietlyin the nightIt locks you in itsblack shaftYou are the fruitof its loinsYeah, your fearwon't let you goRun as fast as you canSheer terror

Fear casts its shadowon the doorFear sinks its teeth inlike an ulcerYour fear has you tightlyin its handFear has castrated youSheer terror is the calmbefore the stormFear consumes youlike a wormSheer terror drives youfrom the areaFear of yourselfFear of yourself

No matter at all whatever you doNo matter whatever you sayNo matter what moves youNo matter how much you complainI'm breaking away and bangingmy head against the wallI'm taking my destiny backinto my own hands

Kiss meand then tell me adieuBeat methen it doesn't hurt so muchWho knows how far andto where the wind is blowing usand what's in the starsfor me without you

No matter at all whatever you doNo matter whatever you sayNo matter if you understandNo matter how often you still ask meI'm breaking awayand eating from my own handI still haven't burnedmy fingers enough

You say nothing – I hate itYou ask nothing – I hate itYou still believe – I hate itin your god – Come, stop itYou shake – I hate ithow fast the time goes byFor it is much too early too late

5/27/2005

Despite the ruins of war in the city of Charleston, the flowers were in full bloom. President Lincoln had been shot only a couple of weeks earlier and with one-third of all Union soldiers buried in unmarked graves, and an equal number of Confederates, death was everywhere.

Charleston had seen more than its own share of death. The city had been turned into rubble and all of this death presented the country with the overwhelming burden of memorialization. After the war there had been various speeches and memorials but something special was about to happen in Charleston.

In the final year of the war, the Confederates had turned the planter's racecourse into an interment camp for Union soldiers. The conditions were awful as the men were forced to live without even tents for shelter. As they lie in the open course, they were exposed to the whims of natures with no protection against storms of the cold or heat. Many died and the former slaves of Charleston could hear their anguished cries during the night. So these newly freed blacks insisted on a proper burial for the men once the war had ended. At least 357 had died during this period and their suffering called for some kind of memorialization. So the first "Decoration Day" was born.

The former slaves, and their unionist allies in the town, decided to hold the event at the racetrack, which had housed the prisoners. In ten days they built a suitable enclosure for the dead, painting the fences, repairing the damage, landscaping, until the ground was ready for their day. The workmen painted a sign at the entrance of the ground, which proclaimed "Martyrs of the Race Course."

On May 1st, at nine o'clock in the morning, the procession began. Three thousand black school children marched around the course with flowers in their hand singing "John Browns Body." They were followed by the women of the Patriotic Association, a group formed to distribute clothing and food to the newly freed slaves, who carried wreaths and crosses for the men.

The official dedication of the event was carried forth by the ministers of all the black churches of Charleston. They read prayers and bible passages while giving birth to an American tradition. By doing such they created meaning for the war in a very public way, which was to be followed by future generations. The grandstand saw over thirty speeches from Union officials, abolitionist missionaries, while the crowd listened to memorials for those who died under captivity.

Picnics followed the speeches and that afternoon the Fifty- Fourth Massachusetts and the Thirty-Fifth and 104th Colored regiments, marched in double column around the graves. They held drills on the infield in order to memorialize the martyrs. People cried all over that day and the holiday, which we call Memorial Day, was founded.

A New York Tribune correspondent called it "a procession of friends and mourners as South Carolina and the United States never saw before." This story has long been forgotten and I bet that the Fox News Channel, CNN, and any other of the networks will not say a single word about it this weekend.

5/26/2005

I was very surprised to find this in my inbox...saying it was from HACK...because he died on May 5th 2005, I had just recently visited his site and wrote in the guestbook , to say farwell...after reading the letter I was crying and I am reminded once again, what a great man,he will be missed, but not forgotten... Here is the letter, I don't think his wife will mind me posting it for everyone to see, and learn from...-Bluewolfess

On the Passing of Hack - a heart-felt tribute from one of his many friends.

Col. David Hackworth

May 5, 2005

An American hero's soul left its no longer useful body today.

I say this because as Chief Bronson (a friend and fellow warrior) pointed out to me, Col. Hackworth just isn't someone you ever think could die and of course he hasn't. His exploits, deeds, good works and lessons learned will be with us always. He will live in our hearts and minds. His spirit will live in everyone who believes in this country and the men and women who are willing to risk all to defend it and each other.

It is said, "Everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission." From the time he was 14 years old, David Hackworth knew what his mission was, to protect this country and those who put themselves in harm's way to defend it. For over 60 years he never wavered from his mission.

When thinking of Col. Hackworth, it is quite natural for thoughts and comparisons with other great military leaders and warriors to come to mind. As I think of him now, it is a description of Crazy Horse by Black Elk that I think of the most, "He was brave and good and wise. He never wanted anything but to save his people and he fought only when they came to kill us and our country. They could not kill him in battle."

I was fortunate enough to know Hack as both a warrior and a person. His garlic shrimp was something I'm going to miss. When we weren't talking about the business of the country, we talked about his favorite topic, his wife Eilhys, or just E to all of us. She’s kind of a cross between a Den Mother, Drill Sergeant, CEO, Inspiration, Spiritual Advisor, Object of Desire and Super Care Giver all wrapped into one.

People use words like, "soul-mate", "best friend", "love of my life" all the time, but for the two of them, they weren't words but truths and he loved to talk about her. The story about the guerilla operation he conducted to win her over is a true battlefield classic for covert operations. He heavily depended on her for everything and enjoyed poking fun at himself for being so dependent. I remember a couple of years ago when she was in a car accident and injured her back. He called and told me (as he watched her painfully limp into the house, barely able to walk) all he could think to himself was, “Who’s going to take care of me?”

But he also depended on her because he could and she never let him down. Between the two of them, they were going to “out G the C!” They were going to out guerilla the cancer and find a way to beat it and damn if E didn’t find a way! Unfortunately, Hack’s body, after all it had been through, just couldn’t keep up and shut down. As has always been the case, E was with him at the time and he left in peace knowing she was there.

Going forward, things will be more difficult than I can imagine for E and hard on all of those whose lives he touched. For them, I close with an old warrior’s wish hoping it provides some comfort and guidance because I know it is what Hack would want:

“When I am dead, cry for me a little. Think of me sometimes, but not too much. It is not good for you to dwell too long. Think of me now and again as I was in life, at some moment which is pleasant to recall, but not for long. Leave me in peace as I shall leave you, too, in peace.”

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian state government has nominated the Tasmanian devil as a threatened species, fearful that the species will become extinct like the iconic Tasmanian tiger.

The devil is the size of a small dog, is generally black and boasts a steel-trap jaw that allows it to swallow its prey whole. Early European settlers named the scavenger the devil for its ear-piercing screeches and fearsome appearance.

But the species has become prey to a disfiguring facial cancer that leads to death by starvation, prompting state Environment Minister Judy Jackson to call for greater protection for the animal.

The disease has reduced the numbers of devils by at least 20 percent during the last decade, a spokesman for the minister told AFP Thursday.

"There's the further likelihood of another 20 percent (reduction) in 10 years," he added.

There are currently an estimated 130,000 devils across the island state, but in some areas local populations had declined by more than 70 percent.

The disease was first noticed in the 1990s but not initially considered significant. The government began a programme to combat the tumour problem in October 2003.

"We just don't want to see the devil go the same way as the tiger," the spokesman said.

The last known Tasmanian tiger, a carnivorous marsupial larger than the devil, died in a Hobart zoo in the 1930s. Since then, there have been regular reported sightings of the striped creature but no confirmed findings.

Below I have put two pictures, one of a Healthy Devil and one disfigured and sick from the tumour/cancers, poor little thing...:shaking head....this is not the only pic I found with the tumours, but this is the least offensive, they were horrible, once again ,Poor little animal....I feel so sorry for animals of all kinds, they are better than us...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA's Voyager 1 has reached the final frontier of our solar system, having traveled through a turbulent place where electrically charged particles from the Sun crash into thin gas from interstellar space

Astronomers tracking the little spaceship's 26-year journey from Earth believe Voyager 1 has gone through a region known as termination shock, some 8.7 billion miles from the Sun, and entered an area called the heliosheath.

"Voyager 1 has entered the final lap on its race to the edge of interstellar space," Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology, said in a statement released Tuesday.

Voyager watchers theorized last November that the craft might be reaching this bumpy region of space when the charged solar particles known as the solar wind seemed to slow down from a top speed of 1.5 million miles per hour.

This was expected at the area of termination shock, where the solar winds were expected to decelerate as they bump up against gas from the space beyond our solar system. It is more than twice as distant as Pluto, the furthest planet in our system.

By monitoring the craft's speed and the increase in the force of the solar wind, Voyager scientists now believe the craft has made it through the shock and into the heliosheath.

Predicting the location of the termination shock was hard because the precise conditions in interstellar space are unknown and the termination shock can expand, contract and ripple, depending on changes in the speed and pressure of the solar wind.

"Voyager's observations over the past few years show the termination shock is far more complicated than anyone thought," said Eric Christian, a scientist with NASA's Sun-Solar System Connection program.

Voyager 1 and its twin spacecraft Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 on a mission to explore the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. The pair kept going, however, and the mission was extended.

Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, the only spacecraft to have visited these outer planets. Both Voyagers are now part of the Voyager Interstellar Mission to explore the outermost edge of the Sun's domain.

Both Voyagers are capable of returning scientific data from a full range of instruments, with adequate electrical power and attitude control propellant to keep operating until 2020.

Wherever they go, the Voyagers each carry a golden phonograph record which bears messages from Earth, including natural sounds of surf, wind, thunder and animals. There are also musical selections, spoken greetings in 55 languages, along with instructions and equipment on how to play the record.

new study of DNA suggests North America was originally settled by just a few dozen people who crossed a land bridge from Asia during the last Ice Age.

About 14,000 years ago, humans crossed the Bering land bridge from Siberia to North America, most experts agree. But just how many intrepid explorers were involved has not been known.

Previous DNA analyses of the New World's founding looked at just one gene and assumed populations sizes have been constant over time. The new study looked at nine genomic regions to account for variations in single genes, and it assumed that sizes of founding populations change over time. The method favored actual genetic data over estimates used in previous calculations.

"The estimated effective size of the founding population for the New World is about 70 individuals," said Jody Hey, a professor of genetics at Rutgers University.

Hey's calculations are also consistent with archeological evidence suggesting the initial settlement occurred around 12,000 to 14,000 years ago.

"The beauty of the new methodology is that it uses actual DNA sequences collected from Asian peoples and Native Americans, an approach that can provide a detailed portrait of historical populations," Hey said.

Hey focused on the genetics of Amerind-speaking populations, one of three major language groups in the New World representing the earliest migrants who extended deep into the Americas. The results are published in the June 2005 issue of the journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology.

MOKULEIA, Hawaii - As a band of jittery plane crash survivors huddle on an island hillside listening to a distress call that has looped through the airwaves for 16 years, one of them asks, "Where ARE we?" The answer: The Hawaiian island of Oahu.

The actors on the hit ABC show "Lost," which wraps up its debut season Wednesday, are of course free to enjoy Oahu. Their characters are miserably unaware of the civilization just off frame. But the fans know better particularly the ones who live on Oahu and proudly blurt out the true locations of flashback scenes set around the globe.

And, if you're looking for the spot somewhere in the Mideast where former Republican Guard member Sayid mooned over the imprisoned Nadia, look inside one of the World War II bunkers at the popular tourist spot of Diamond Head, within view of famous Waikiki Beach.

Watching the show each week, fan David Morgan often tells himself, "Hey, I know where that is!" That's because many of the settings are at his lovely, family owned Kualoa Ranch up against the sharp peaks of Koolau Range on the lush windward side of the island.

The 4,000-acre working cattle ranch has a long history of hosting film crews, dating back to the 1965 film "In Harm's Way" and including the more recent "Godzilla," "Jurassic Park," and "50 First Dates."

The ranch provides tours of filming highlights as well as horse and all-terrain vehicle rides and is a must-see stop for die-hard fans jonesing for the "Lost" experience while the show goes into repeats after Wednesday's finale.

Jin reunited with his father at his native Korean fishing village set along the shore of a tranquil, 800-year-old Hawaiian fish pond at the edge of the ranch. Ill-fated lottery winner Hurley set up a golf course to entertain the beleaguered castaways on a flat spot currently littered with cowpies. And Brit rocker Charlie and his brother, in a flashback, talked about kicking drugs at Morgan's house in the Nuuanu section of Honolulu.

At the end of a road cutting past a small airfield and another ranch along Oahu's North Shore is the former site of show's crash site, long since packed away. Rugged, beautiful and far from Hawaii's hordes of hottie surfers, Mokuleia Beach has precisely the end-of-the-world feel that permeates the show. Just you and a couple of locals casting their fishing lines from the edge of the surf.

"Lost" fan and new Hawaii Pacific University graduate Wes Grotjan said he's particularly noticed the show's use of Honolulu's Downtown and Chinatown sections, which have done turns as everywhere from the streets of New York to towns in Australia's Outback.

"I feel I'm kind of in on the joke that I get to see a lot of these places," said Grotjan outside HPU's downtown campus a block from where struggling artist Michael foolishly ran out into the road and got hit by a car.

Oahu's North Shore is also home to other spots visited by the ill-fated passengers of Oceanic Flight 815.

Across from the fabled surf break of Waimea Bay now flat as a pancake without the wintertime swells is the Waimea Valley Audubon Center. Hunky badboy Sawyer and mystery lady Kate dove and jumped off the falls there, even though No. 3 on the list of posted rules explicitly says to do neither.

But never mind, a lifeguard is stationed just to the left of the falls should anything go wrong.

People are always intrigued by the possibility of jumping from the falls, but it's not clear if the TV scene has attracted more daredevils, said Hazel Shaw, a spokeswoman for the center.

Like the Kualoa Ranch, Waimea Valley has hosted film crews since the days of "Magnum P.I." But the site doesn't receive a credit in the episode, so few would know where to look for the falls except the readers of stories like this one, Shaw said.

Just don't tell them The AP sent you.

Ok , this is cool I have Been to Hawaii and it is beautiful...and yes I recognised alot of the places in LOST , bugs my husband, along with most of the movies and shows on TV these days being filmed in Vancouver, BC, Canada>where I used to live*) because I'm always going , "hey ...I know where that is...just round the corner from...."

Bice Bice Baby, Bice Bice BabyAll right stop, Collaborate and listenBice is here with a brand new intentionSomething grabs a hold of us tightlyThen we flow like a Bo-fan daily and nightlyWill it ever stop? Yo - I don't knowTurn off the lights and we'll glowTo the extreme he rocks a mic like a vandalLights up a stage and makes us melt like a candle.

Dance, now we need us a speaker that boomsHe's trippin our brains like a psychedelic mushroomDeadly, when he sings a sweet melodyAnything less than the best is a felonyLove him or leave him, You better give wayHe's gonna hit bull's eye, The kid don't playIf there is a problem, Yo, he will solve itCheck out the pants while the camera revolves it

Now that the competition is jumpingWith the band kicked in, the contestants are pumpin'Quick to the point, to the point no fakingI'm cooking up Simon like a pound of baconDissing them if they're not quick and waryHe must be crazy cause he's pickin' CarrieWe need a song with a souped up tempoBo on a roll and it's time to go soloRockin' on the stage on with the showWith the wind in his face so his hair can blowThe Bice Squad on standby, Waving just to say HiDid Bo see? Yes - he just smiled wideKept on rockin' to the next stopHe busts a power ballad and heading to the next stop

Take heed, 'cause he's a lyrical poetBo Bice is on the scene just in case you didn't know itSugar Money that created all the cool soundEnough to shake and kick holes in the ground'Cause his style's like a rock and roll spillFeasible rhymes that you can vision and feelConducted and formed, This is a real cool concepthe ain't no hype and you want to trust with thatKeeps his composure when it's time to get looseMagnetized by the mic while he kicks his juiceIf there was a problem, Bo - he'll solve it!Check out Granny Madge's threads while he revolves it.

5/24/2005

Chihuahuas, Irish wolfhounds, pit bulls, beagles, greyhounds, and more. Man's best friend comes in a range of sizes, shapes, and temperaments unmatched by any other mammalian species. Biologists have now taken a step toward understanding that diversity by conducting a limited, but relatively quick and inexpensive, scan of one dog's full DNA sequence, or genome.

The data from this scan should ultimately help researchers study the more-than-300 human diseases, such as cancer and epilepsy, that also afflict dogs. The new work has already enabled scientists to compare the mouse, dog, and human genomes.

"The sequence of our genome is more similar to the dog's, despite the fact that the dog lineage split off first from the common ancestor" of all three mammals, says Ewen F. Kirkness of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, Md., who led the dog-genome project. The rodent's unusually high mutation rate has made its DNA diverge more from people's than the dog's DNA has, he explains.

In the strategy pursued by Kirkness' team, biologists isolate copies of an animal's genome and break the strands of DNA into millions of short fragments. After determining the sequence of nucleotides making up each such piece of DNA, biologists use a computer to match overlapping sequences and piece together as much of the animal's full DNA sequence as possible. The more DNA analyzed, the better the chance that the final genome sequence will be accurate and have few gaps. For the human and mouse genomes, geneticists sequenced fragments equaling 6 to 10 times the DNA in the actual genome of each.

The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., is sponsoring a similarly thorough dog-genome project, but Kirkness and his colleagues wondered whether they could glean important information from a substantially smaller amount of DNA. If so, researchers might then consider sequencing the genomes of one animal from each of the 18 orders of mammals.

In the Sept. 26 Science, Kirkness and his colleagues describe their survey of the dog genome. They ultimately sequenced DNA equal to only 1.5 times the genome. From that work, they determined 77 percent of the dog genome and found canine DNA fragments corresponding to 18,473 of the 24,567 previously documented human genes. "We got more than we expected," says Kirkness.

The canine DNA analyzed came from a male standard poodle belonging to two of the coauthors on the new report, TIGR's Claire M. Fraser and J. Craig Venter of The Center for Advancement of Genomics, also in Rockville. That selection isn't surprising given that Venter used his own DNA when his former company, Celera, performed its commercial sequencing of the human genome (SN: 5/23/98, p. 334). NIH's dog-genome project, scheduled to finish next year, uses DNA from a boxer.

****************If you have a comment on this article that you would like considered for publication in Science News, send it to editors@sciencenews.org. Please include your name and location.

5/10/2005

5/09/2005

NAIROBI, Kenya - A stray dog saved the life of a newborn baby after finding the abandoned infant in a forest and apparently carrying it across a busy road and through some barbed wire to her litter of puppies, witnesses said.

The stray dog found the infant, clad in tattered clothing, in a poor neighborhood near the Ngong Forests in the capital of Nairobi, Stephen Thoya told the independent Daily Nation newspaper.

The dog apparently found the baby Friday in the plastic bag in which the infant had been abandoned, said Aggrey Mwalimu, owner of the shed where the animal was guarding its puppies. The seven-pound, four-ounce infant was taken to the hospital for treatment on Saturday.

"She is doing well, responding to treatment, she is stable. ... She is on antibiotics," Kenyatta National Hospital spokeswoman Hanna Gakuo told The Associated Press from the hospital, where health workers called the infant Angel.

Kenya's media often report the abandonment of newborns by mothers. Poverty and the inability to care for the child are seen as the root cause of the problem. Most people who abandon babies are never caught.

The child had not yet been claimed.

"Abandoned babies are normally taken to the Kenyatta National Hospital because it is a public hospital," Gakuo said. "People are now donating diapers and baby clothes for this one."